‘Hearts and Minds’

This chapter provides both a critical analysis of Britain’s mythologised conduct of counter-insurgency warfare, and also assesses the extent to which ‘hearts and minds’ techniques aimed at rallying Dhofari civilians to support the Sultanate contributed to its eventual victory. It demonstrates that civil aid and development work was less significant than the SAF’s military campaign to defeat the insurgency, and it also examines the part played by the Firqat Forces, the tribal militia the SAF and the SAS established to fight the PFLOAG. It concludes with a discussion on the propaganda war, and the British government’s efforts to counter hostile political and media criticism of its aid to Oman.